Why You Aren’t Winning
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- Опубліковано 2 жов 2024
- Have you ever wondered why your photos have not done well in photography contests or competitions? Were you going for gold and only got bronze? In this video I share my experience of 20 years of being behind the scenes at contests and print competitions and why images win or lose.
Find more of my education resources at www.dedpxl.com
You can find my photography at www.ZackArias.com
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MY GOD, HE LIVES....
Welcome back.
Hahaha The same from here! Glad to see you again Zack.
LOL!
Little strange to start without any explications of silence... . As your fan I don’t ask a apologies. Just say some words about
I have never entered a competition. Never felt the desire to.
Anyone else ?
Welcome back Zack.
Amen. Actually, I did enter some competitions in the past ( and won a few ) but I have no desire to do so again.
Certainly not if your photography leans towards self-expressive art more than a service business.
To me it's a useless effort, primarily because it's a crap shoot wrt what the judges may or may not like. The judging is highly subjective, which is to be expected I suppose.
If you like your photos that's all that matters.
Me neither. And I'm age 54 now. Been shooting for, well, about 43 years.
New Upload from Zack Arias *instantly dropping everything for a 25 minute break*
Hahahaha! Thanks!
@@ZackAriasATL ha... dude, you are Mr Screw the Algorithm
It's so nice to see you Zack with new videos. I watched all your OneLight Workshop videos back in the day and they taught me more about lighting than anything I've seen since.
Thanks! Glad to be back!
"Shooting for contests and not for yourself." So much this. And it applies so well to social media (*cough* Instagram). Whenever I think "this shot will get a lot of likes" it bombs so hard. But when it's something I seriously loved and put my heart into it, that's what gets noticed.
"I ride for my pleasure only." Miki Dora.
Hey Zack, looking well buddy, good to see you back. Personally can’t stand photo competitions but each to their own. If you are producing work that makes your client cry with joy, who cares what anyone else thinks.
I've only ever entered one photo competition.....I won third prize in the "colour print" section. The 1st prize was won by the judge's wife with a lopsided Polaroid snapshot (true story). I no longer enter photo competitions :-/
What??????? That’s some bullsh/t right there!
Unfortunately too many times in the art world its not the work you have but who you are.
The fact that a judge's wife was allowed to participate tells you all you need to know about that organisation
Bro I am sooo happy that you are back ... you influenced the way I look at photography and my approach not only to my gear and work but to my clients too, and for that, I have to thank you A LOT!.
Thanks Frank! Glad to be of service!
Initially, while watching the video I felt frustrated because I felt that all I was hearing from you is that it is a crap shoot, everything is subjective, the judges, the weather, the season, or even the relevant humidity in the room might be the difference from honorable mention or the trash bin. However, afterwards, I thought for a bit and came to realize the trouble I have is what is something that is probably so obvious to yourself and so many others: Art is art. Art is not math. My brain works mathematically and while I thoroughly enjoy art, and want to create art, I may be limited in my abilities by having a natural desire to focus more on the technical and less on the emotional or artistic aspect of photography. Thank you for sharing your input- in the end, I found it very insightful and helpful.
After this post I'm going back, looking through my collection and giving photo contests a try. Just completed a film and did some image capture along the way in back scene, and you inspired me Zack. Thank you!
Good luck!
Photo contests are completely inane. You should be doing art to please yourself. If others like your work that is a bonus. Daido Moriyama's work was hated by most for a long time because he worked outside the so called normal rules of photography. Today, he is recognized as one of photography's greatest artists. Follow your own instincts and don't give a damn what anyone else thinks .
He Lives. Thanks Zack. Your silhouette shoot past midnight with Jared Polin opened my eyes as to what a set of speedlights can do. Welcome back
I gave up on my camera club contests because most of the types of photographs that win are nature and landscapes; nothing else gets much score. I did win once with a flat camera photo category; I just submitted for fun and remarkably it did well. Then in another organization a film photo won first place and I only entered to be a part of the event/community and I received first place. Now I feel pressured to have the best photos more often but learning to just shoot, follow the light and pick what interests/catches my eye. I love your attitude, advice and cool factor. Please keep making. Hugs.
Thank you!
Great to see you back on UA-cam Zack. Your wisdom and skills have been sorely missed.
Thanks Tom!
Thanks for that, Zack; some inspiring words there.
And hey, I just have to say on behalf of all those photographers that you called to let them know about how their work showed well but didn't win, thank you! That was a super generous thing to do and a real feel-good moment for me this morning.
Thanks!
Welcome back Zack. I have learned a LOT from you. This is an excellent video. The Crop or Crap video opened my eyes also, as SO MANY PEOPLE get caught up in the sensor size dilemma. Hello from ATLANTA!😊
ATL!!!! Thank you, Robert!
Some reasons I did not see u long time on youtube. what really happens. I missed you, Zack . and as always, that is something worth time to listen.
Thanks!
Lots of good information in this video. It proves again that only one party gains from contests. The party that holds the contest. It's mostly just a marketing thing and the visibility gained by the contestants is low. Also the process described here has problems. The judges discuss so a judge with better talking skills wins over the one withe the better eye.
Focus on your goals and ask yourself if a contest brings you closer or if it is a waste of time
Fotografieren mit MarcusFotos.de I wouldn’t say all of that. Many organizations that hold contests do education and outreach for the industry on a regular basis. Contests, at times, help fund those initiatives. Any process has issues and for every contest I’ve ever been a part of I stand by what the judges finally chose as winners. Sure there’s a lot of subjective layers to what goes on but that’s the industry we are a part of. Your final question in your comment is a good one though. I agree with that.
Listen to this guy! He has produced the single best piece of writing I have ever read about cameras. "A Camera Walks Into A Bar" is funny, insightful and it gets its message across really well. I don't totally agree with the implications of what he was saying, but the craftsmanship and wittiness of the piece are magnificent.!!
Thanks!
Oh it's so good to have you back on UA-cam!
You are the one that made me interested in photography 10 years ago, if I didn’t see One Light I would never continue in photography ;) Just wanted to say that! Cheers from Japan!
Arigatou gozaimasu!!!
Know the rules and preferences of your judging panel or clientele. Morph your portfolio to support their egos. That’s how you win. It is a plain and simple competition that less to do with art and more to do with fitting into their box.
Clients yes. Judges? I disagree.
@Zack Arias Do firefighter photos ever win at all? Asking for a friend
Thanks Zack, just what I need.
Good to see new content from my favourite instructor. Hope you're still enjoying the N.Brown ale! love those creative live classes that you did
I’ve moved from beer to wine these days. 😜
Great information Zack. Thanks for sharing
Reason 6 in other words: judges are emotionally unstable and can change their feelings about your photo 😂
Edan Sounds Aren’t we all? I sure do that with my own work!
That or they do not have well defined standards. It is why the result of any competition based on taste can generally not be reproduced - because they are horse.
Standards in Art?
Great to see you back...Zack!!🇬🇧🇨🇦🇬🇧
Photo contests are way too subjective. I shoot to please myself first. If you like my work, you can have a copy. Great video.
Thank you for explaining this - now I get it!
Very informative, as always with Mr. Arias. But even more than that, I’m soooo happy to see one of my favourite photographers and photography teachers back! :)
That was awesome. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for sharing this awesome experience for us novice in photography contest. On the other side of the coin, with your massive experience, it would be much appreciated if you would you also share why some photos are winning the contest. Thanks Zack.
Excellent insights on how photo contests are judged. Some of this I was already aware of but a lot was new to me so thank you Zack it was very informative!
Very interesting and informative video! Thanks!
I really loved the casual mention of something unexpected in a photo. That ought to give a lot of us something to ponder.
"Let me see if Unsplash has anything..." 😂
Yay. Zack Back
Excellent, honest, and informative. You hit the bullseye on the topic title of why an image might not win. The the reason why a lot of people would care is because they WANT to win (kinda obvious, I know). So the next question (video) could be Why do you want to win contests to badly? And this gets more to the heart I think of many photographers that enter.... Maybe it's ego--I'm great and I want the world to know it... Maybe it's lack of confidence and the pursuit of validation, by others, that your work amounts to something... or Maybe it's the need or desire to pad a resume with awards, honors or the alphabet soup of certification levels... I liked your video a lot, and I'm glad to see you back putting out content!!
Thanks Zack that was informative and rekindled some older ideas. Gave to see you posting again, I often chuckle when I think of the crop sensor video!!!
A valuable, well-considered video. Many thanks Zack.
Comments:
. In Australia, in club photography at least, photographers who are guilty of making photographs to suit certain competitions and/or certain judges are often rewarded. They shouldn't be, but they are.
. Also in club comps, many images are excluded because they aren't technically perfect. A safe, defensible position for the judge, but on this basis, many great photographs of the past wouldn't make the cut.
. Other, non-photographic factors are brought in. There's a major national competition held here where shortlisting is clearly based on photographic quality, but the winners always fulfil a "PC" factor. Some utter crap wins most years - with some brilliant images being shortlisted or maybe even getting an honourable mention, but no more than that.
Shane Baker I don’t see anything wrong with rewarding a photographer for sticking to the brief but being creative within those confines is what I’d prefer. The winner of the Australian photography magazine 2019 was a portfolio of trophy shots that are basically exact copies of Bruce Percy and Michael Kenya’s Hokkaido work. I was shocked it won absolutely shocked. I never entered myself because I felt I hadn’t taken anything original enough last year.
@@tallaganda83, I wasn't criticising "sticking to the brief but being creative", but photographers who are formulaic, and/or who intentionally play to the known preferences of a judge.
IMHO, we should make our best photographs for a competition and submit - not set out to produce a "winner". I share your view on entry. I rarely enter comps, and will only do so if I have something that I think is worthy.
You're such a Mensch, Zack! Great Video. Also, maybe number 5 could go up to number 1? Sometimes my main reason why I initially don't cull mediocre pictures from my sets.
(Goes to google to look up Mensch) 😜 Thank you!
Competitions and the whole competitive mentality in the arts is toxic, and mostly illogical, imo. There is little to no objectivity or way to objectively analyze a piece of art that could prove it superior. You either like it or you don't. It is purely subjective. If you win a photography competition all you really can say is that some random people ("judges") happen to prefer a certain image of yours more than the ones other people chose to submit.
I think there is a lot more to it than, "I either like it or I don't". Images don't just fall into those two categories. There are many different reasons why we may or may not like a given image. And then there are many things about an image we may like, and many other things about the same image that we don't like. Any form of artistic expression is actually quite complex, and photography is no exception. Truly good art will cause people to have an array of different thoughts, reactions, and feelings, and will cause us to become introspective as we ask what it is about the piece and about ourselves that cause us to have each one of those reactions and feelings.
@@TomReichner Ha, there is an infinite combination and possibility of things that lead to the end result of "I either like it or I don't." It is the end result of your conscious and subconscious thought processes and it is anything but simple. There may be varying degrees of like or dislike, but you most definitely fall into one of those two positions, no matter how small of a margin or whether you even realize it yourself or not. You may dislike 1000 things about a piece of art and you may like 1001 things about it, but technically, you like the piece overall. I think your confusing this with pieces of art that you seem to be indifferent about and seem to not care much about either way. But if reflected upon, you would find that there are more things about the piece that you like, or vice versa, that your opinion is indeed weighted or biased one way or the other. You don't have to adore or hate something to qualify as liking or disliking it. I agree there is a spectrum or scale or intensity of adoration or loathing we can feel toward a piece of art. But no matter where you fall on that scale, you still fall on one side or the other; like or dislike.
@@adamaj74 At least you seem to understand that it is not as simple as you had made it out to be in your first comment. That is what concerned me; that you lacked the insight to be able to perform a proper assessment of both the art and your response to it. But you seem to have a better handle on that than I had feared, so you are indeed on the right path.
@@TomReichner Thanks! And right back at you! Always happy when a debate/argument ends amicably. Cheers.
adamaj &Tom Reichner Kudos to both of you for the mature exchange of thoughts. Sadly this is not as common as it’s necessary
Thank you a lot! Great to know the other side of the contests! My outcome - the more real you are the more real the photo you will take and it will have the most high possibility to catch the judges eyes...
P.S. And that shot of the shirt button at 16:48 and sweatspot in the armpit as a result is worth a contest itself :)
23 years of work as a creative director for an advertising agency meant having an opportunity to enter creative competitions galore. One stands out, an ad I produced for a creative budget of $300 which won "silver" awards in about 6 categories, in a 1983 5th district American Advertising Federation competition, against another agency's work which got the Gold in same categories for an ad budget of $300,000. Interestingly enough, the campaign that got the Gold did not actually appear in any media outlet, since the product, a cigarette called Ely Cutter, designed to compete with Marlboro, was never brought to fruition. Oh well, the bottom-line here is this: commercial artists must produce work that gets the job done for the client, that's winning. Those not making a living from their "art" only have competitions to get an idea of whether or not the artist's output is appreciated. The question is always how important it is for these artists to be appreciated. sterlingimagesphotography.com
Great insight into the world of competitive photography. Very interesting. If I see the passion for any art form enters the foul world of competitiveness I am out. Have You ever experienced a piano play competition? The fear for failing is palpable. I just enjoy photography for the sake of taking pictures.
Awesome insight, thanks man! (PS: I too have a pic of a firefighter, flames, and a hose. lol.)
The main reason: I don’t care about contests and therefore don’t enter in any of them.
me2
So why bother replying!
Same thing, photography is not a contest for me, it's a passion and sometimes some extra cash
Who do you think cares if you enter contests or not ? I think this was informative and the message is clear and it does not even relates to contests only but to photography in general.
@@johneast7987 Because it's a totally valid position, and wasn't addressed specifically.
You look like Tony Northrup in disguise. 😂
THAT’S THE SECOND REFERENCE TO TONY THIS WEEK! 😂❤️😂
Nah.. Zack is the real.. the other person you mentioned* is a knock off.
Dan Nolle Tony is a fraud. Don’t say that
With a few extra pounds too 😂😂😂😂 but agree with the others, No comparison at all!
I greatly appreciate your down to earth, "tell it like it is" approach to the realities of the crazy world of photography. I'm one of those who have entered a contest only to get zero response. My emotions run from temporary depression, to "what were they thinking, to "why bother". You've reminded me that I can have a great piece of work that is being seen on the wrong day, by the wrong judge, with the wrong agenda. It could still be a great work. Thanks Zack for this insightful, inspiring video.
Dude glad to see you still kicking
Blake.is I’m here!
Word up! Zack's back!
everyting correct. I made the same experiences for many years an it helped to develop my photography
Where have you been Zack? Welcome back!
Great! Welcome back!
Thank you!
Always appreciate your view on photography. I will always be grateful for you critiquing my college portfolio in Starbucks in Richardson, Texas. Lol. Much respect. Peace.
I know from personal experience that on some occasions, the people who are judging the images aren't photographers themselves, and they are able to see something in an image that other photographers don't. Mostly because, like with music - first came pictures, then came the theory behind them.
Thanks I entered my first contest, with what I thought were great photos that I never sharered, not even a mention.
It’s tough isn’t it?
The same happens to me.
So so right, ZacK
oh im glad youre making videos again
The Angry Photographer won a neighborhood contest between him and uncle Fester. His display of the cat in the garden was marvellous. He could not have done it without his GFX.
Lol
That microphone cable is not going to last very long buddy ;-)
Hahahaha! I know! Give this man a fidget spinner! Funny story... I just ordered a new mic with a longer cable.
Thanks for the video. I think I like those six photographs on the wall. Where can I see them?
Those are some prints my friend Dave Jackson gave me some years ago.
for me photography competitions are a complete lottery depending on who sponsors it and who the judges are
"Today I want to talk to you about where the hell I've been the past five years." :-D Zack's back!
Eric Guel 😂❤️😂
Great video. Very interesting. I don't take part in contests, I can tell if my photo is good. In fact, I'm a very tough judge for myself. Thank you for your time and work. Thumb up.
The real winners are those that get paid for their work or those that are satisfied with the results. The rest is luck and or talent.
At the risk of starting a war. Yes, I have entered contests. I have been recognized and have had scathing reviews. I lost a contest to a person who through Photoshop added a lightning bolt to his photo. I started shooting film in the '70's. I am "old school", read if it's not on the negatives it doesn't exist on the print. With that as my motto if you will I pose to those who read this board is this question; " with the advent of digital and post processing when does photography become not about the actual photograph, [ read: composition f/stops, ASA,] but how good you are at computer manipulation"?
I think you're right. Today photography is also editing.
film photography has its magic but denying its evolution into digital is like saying that hand washing your clothes is the real thing and using the washing machine is cheating.
Shooting is one half of a digital image, the other half is editing, they cannot be separated. In some cases heavy editing or completely altering an image is not accepted, in others it is required. Even if you do not edit a photo, your camera will do it for you unless you always shoot raw
@@isadoradurso9491 Digital has several advantages,IMHO being able to see in real time your results. In your reply, you actually made my point. If half of the image is the result of editing, something that is a fact, and please remember even Ansul Adams burned and dodged for days,then "learning the basics is redundant because I can fix it in post". If you or anyone who reads this can fix out of focus in "Post",-- I use Affinity Photo--Please show me how and in doing so Please employ the KISS method. We no longer have the F- 64 club and most of use don't use an 8x10 either. My B&W's in digital in my opinion ,are not as good as if I shot with my Hassy on Ilford Pan F ASA 50. The other thing is we don't print as much as we did before. I have thousands of dollars tied up in frames and matting.
Not To be taken personally,but as a general comment in closing to all that read this. When was the last time you had a 24 x20 or larger print made?
Yes, that's why by the time I got really good at taking photos, it got to be screwed up by manipulation and post-production talent and ease of tech-trickery. It's similar in the music business. Nobody can recreate analog masters like Gerry Rafferty's Baker Street or all the old Roxy Music, ABBA or other timeless 60s and 70s hit-records that were so well-composed, arranged and mixed, even with today's tech you would not be able to mimic the way the melody and lyrics and solos were created and put into one. For one you had to depend on the one chance you got at recording your idea. There was not the option to re-re-re-retry everything, it assured you of purity and emotions, sometimes stress and fear and anger. But in the current era, you re-do it all endlessly until its bland, numb, re-peat and re-mix. Can't beat the real thing. Some exceptions are there though, like FM-84, The Midnight and many of the revival attempts of 80s synth/pop really understood that what is missing in today's music needs to come back.
My photos are shite. That's the biggest reason I don't win competitions.
good to see you back
best youtuber by a country mile. One of the few with any charisma.
Hello! Thank you for chatting about photo contest... Now I understand that it is all subjective. I don´t enter any photo contest.
But i would be interested in a critique by you...
Thank you for insights on photo contest. I have felt like that and stopped submitting my work, one of the main reasons is that I have accepted that my work is not for everyone to like them or a popularity contest image. My work might only connect with a small bunch of people who can directly connect with my images, and I am ok with that. Thank you for reminding me to shoot for myself.
Thank you for one of the most interesting and useful videos I have seen on UA-cam for quite some time. I have just subscribed. 👍
Thank you!
Zack is back!!! Yes!!!
Thank you for sharing these awesome insights! I will recommend this post to my list.
Thank you so much!
So much Yes! 😁
I know this is a 4-year-old video, but I only found it today as I got home from the local camera club photo comp and didn't win anything (not to be sexist but only the men who entered won, which pissed me off even more). Two that did win copied my ideas from last year that I won. I can't stand copy-cats they make my blood boil. I don't know if I should quit entering or try something completely new and just see. Any ideas?
Hi @Zack, thanks a lot for explaining the behind the scenes. Could you also please make a video on how to select the pictures for a contest. I have never participated in any contest, mostly because I have a fear that I won't be able to select the best or the worthy enough photograph. How do we achieve this great art of selection. My second question would be on how do we know which competitions are worth entering.
Noted!
I think the same applies to almost any artform, something I've learned from being so multi-disciplined… The sheer number of participants in an artform far exceeds the imaginations of those participants. It is astronomical the number of people watching these UA-cam videos and spending years learning and selecting their gear and pressing their shutter button and combing through magazines and trying to be a photographer. And even with these contests representing even only a tiny portion of those people, folks have to understand it's still just an impossibly huge, saturated pool of work.
Very well said.
I have seen many photography competitions where the photos winning are so obviously edited that it is no longer a photo and more like artwork. Unless it is in the creative division or a Photoshop competition I think this send a bad message to photographers that you have to be more skilled with Photoshop than with the camera to win a competition.
How very true. I can think of several illustrious competitions "won" by cheating photographers ( using Photoshop unfairly ).
So True. I have found myself in discussions where Photoshopping is more valued than Photography. I think this is because of two facts. One, the beauty industry has made the market believe that porcelain skin is beautiful and therefore all and everyone who can take a bad picture and photoshop it to kingdom-come is a photographer. It’s made worse by those with low-end gear but will photoshop skills flooding the market place. 2, Cellphones with their filters haven made everyone a photographer..
Yes, yes, yes!
But post-production is important too, right? The darkroom of old!
@@romzaish Absolutely! There is nothing wrong with post production on photos. Ansel Adams did loads of post production. But some photo editing styles are so over done that it kills the special look of a photo. They are trying too hard to be a Rembrandt.
Speaking of judges, local shows don't have world-class judges you speak of. Their judging is more subjective and personal, and if they're working photographers they may discount photographs they perceive as threatening.
Let me just like the video first and then start watching.
this could have been a 8 minute video...
It also could have been a three hour video with the way I jabber on and on and on and on and on /edit and on and /edit on and on.
It's really unsettling to think I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between an image I believe is an objectively good image, or because of my emotional connection to the image. What would you say is the best "test" to find out whether or not your assessment of your image is skewed by your subjective feelings?
For me to stay glued for 25 minutes means this was REALLY interesting. Many thanks, Zach.
Greg Wallis Thanks! The first take was something stupid like 38 minutes. I cut and cut and cut and cut and still feel I should have cut some more. I’m just too opinionated to make 5 minute videos!
@@ZackAriasATL noooo don't do that . those 25 minutes went like 3 minutes
and it was very informative and I've learned a lot . thanks Zack
Good one
Ok. I wanted to get all the way through your video before commenting but I'm half way through and can't help myself. WHAT AN AMAZING VIDEO (Yes I'm shouting and I'm sorry there is no way to give you hundreds of likes or promote you more). I started the video thinking the young you was right, how is it that great pics were being dropped, but I got half way through and realized that the best pictures are often the ones that are unexpected. To some degree that explains why my photos are so popular. I'm not formally trained, I don't follow a formula and just photograph what I like. Sometimes it's by design, mostly my good photos are a mistake. But overall I don't care what people think. I'm just engaging in photography because I enjoy it. Will I enter a competition? Possibly. Will I win? I really don't care, because I really only take photos for myself and if others like it, that's an amazing bonus. Again thankyou for your video and I'll now watch the rest. (I hope that the rest of your video concurs with what I've said. Lol 😂😂😂)
Sheer size is going to be the biggest factor. Your odds will always be low with lots of entrants, regardless of the quality of your work.
So losing really isn't as significant an indicator of the quality of your work as winning is. It's not a big insult. It's just what was most likely to happen.
Great insight in to mind of judges. I admit that I still think too much about what other people in SOME think about my images and might post something other than my personal favorites because of that. From now on, it's personal favorites only. Thanks for this!
Very informative. I've only entered one photo contest which I entered on a lark and didn't even make it past the first round. My initial thoughts were of disappointment but that I would wait to see the winners to analyze them to see what mine might be missing. I hadn't expected to win but I did expect to at least make it past round one. Then I saw all the winners and couldn't believe how bad nearly all of them were. To borrow your example think what that firefighter photo might have been if the composition was awkward, the front of the firehouse spraying water was cut off in the frame, the image was out of focus, and the fire didn't make it into the frame. So bad they were laughable. That led me to wondering who the judges of the competition were and found they kept it secret. Then I finally found someone online that said they had been a judge for the competition in the past and stopped because they disagreed with who were recently being put on the panel by the contests board to judge the contest. Then I eventually found out who the judges were and after looking at their background (or work in the case of some of them being photographers) realized they had no qualifications to judge such a contest. Obviously this wasn't the contest you were part of. So I started looking into contests in more detail and found that many, and I emphasize many, look like they have questionable methodologies. Either there is no clear parameters as to what judges look for or the judges involved are often of questionable competence to be judging. Then I learned about the situation of photographer Sal Cincotta winning his own photography contest and that was enough for me to realize contests are not for me.
So glad I found your channel. I was in Shenzhen, China last year for work and got invited to join a photowalk contest by a few new friends that I met while I was there. I was expecting a more casual 'walk and shoot' experience. But it was obvious right from the start that most of the guys were falling into the no.5 reason that you mentioned in this video.
Zack Arias. Is life a contest? Our society is already rife with contests and ball play games. Get real. Why should any artistic inclination also be turned into a contest? We can explain the reasons for doing art and research of the world, the origins of culture, but no one can explain the reason for running after a plastic ball and kicking it, except that it is a well paid but otherwise totally useless and rather silly childish passtime. I say fuck contests.
Have often been to photography competition exhibitions (Not ones I've entered) and not agreed with the overall winner(s)
Has made me curious about the judging process / likes + dislikes of Judges.
Would love to see a video example of a judging process.
Either suggestion for a video (Zack) or if anybody knows of any links....
I believe photo competitions will make you a better photographer if you listen to the judges’ critiques and make an attempt to see your photos the way they see them. Many times I will not agree with the way they see my photographs, but, then, there are many times the judges are spot on and help me see how to improve my photography. The learning, and becoming a better photographer, happens over time. I say, enter competitions several time a year for a few years, and then decide if they are not for you.
In the not so distant future, photos will be judged by Google, Siri, Alexa or Facebook AI. (They really have seen it ALL).
And that's at a level where there are multiple judges with a reasonably consistent method of appraisal. At camera club level... One judge this season who claimed to be an 'International' judge said a contestant's image was for 'the shredder' Oh Dear. However although he did like my picture and I think it was 3rd or something it did devalue the experience somewhat.
Luckily I’ve never come across a judge that brutal.
not trying to call out..but i know one very well known wedding photographer who shots for contests because she figured out algorithm...then i look at her work...and agree...she did shot for the contest not for client..sad
I was entering a weekly comp and started to work out what the judges preferred. Then they gave the win to a photo that didn't even suit the theme for that week. Never entered any more to that comp since then.
Yep. That happens. I know some folks like that as well... and... honestly... I’m ok with it. If that’s what they are into and they are doing it in a professional way... that’s fine. They are creating work for a reason and that reason meets their needs.
Great video, thank you.
I've had similar thoughts, but could never put them into words as well as you did.
Such valuable information, super informative. Genuinely brilliant video thanks so much
I only ever entered one contest in the early 80's which I won... So I figured quit while you're ahead and in the last 30 years I've never entered another, not even the World Press, which some of my ex-colleagues won..
That’s the right plan!